Hotel Aqua

I really can't believe all the fantastic reviews for this hotel. I guess it depends on your experience of 5 star hotels - but this is definitely not a 5 star hotel. 3 stars maybe.

We went for 2 weeks in August for a family holiday (2 adults & 2 children aged 16 & 9)

The hotel is clean and the staff work really hard and are friendly.
Rooms were ok but not 5 star. No alcohol in the minibar (not that we are big drinkers but we kind of expected a little something).
No hot water first thing for a shower in the morning - reminds me of being in Greece in the 1980's!

Food in the restaurant is very limited, repetitive and very "Turkish" for every meal. Most of the dishes are a concoction of various foods, are unrecognisable and sometimes unlabelled so you have to chose with your eyes. Not sure what the "meat" was.
We noticed lots of English guests (us included) walking around the food dishes, lifting the lids then putting them back down without taking any.
Whoever is filleting the fish in this place needs a good talking to as every dish containing "fish" has some bones in it.
Children are not very well catered for either as far as the food goes.
The outside BBQ grill was ok but the same food every night.
The sweet/pudding section was probably the highlight of the main meal if you like that but there's only so much one can eat.
We decided to eat out quite a few times in Icmeler town to break up the food monotony which in itself was a bit of a chore due to the fact that every restaurant/bar you pass is trying to drag you in.

Drinks are rubbish - no premium brands available or on display. However I did see a few Turkish speaking guests getting them at the "sunset bar". When I asked for them, all the bar staff just looked at each other for a second and then I was told that I couldn't have them.
The standard cocktails and spirits all taste watered down and tasteless - they even put ice in the fizzy white wine (which didn't resemble prosecco what so ever).
Beer was ok but you get fed up with it pretty quick.

The only outdoor pool is way too small and the sunbeds are really cramped round it so you'll likely get to talk to the person who's sitting 6 inches either side of you, or be shrouded in their cigarette smoke/vape plume. It's noisy and cramped.
Of course that's if you can get a sunbed - you'll need to be up putting your towels out before 6:30am.
We were a bit wary of going in the pool after about 3pm as there's a lot of people in and out of it (being so small the water gets a bit "soupy" towards the end of the day)

Beach was ok but not great. That was until my son spotted what he thought was a jelly fish in the water but turned out to be a tampon. Needless to say we kept out of the sea.

All in all, we were very disappointed that this hotel didn't live up to the standard advertised.

Top Tips
- Go somewhere else if you want a 5 star experience.
- Don't believe all the "fantastic" reviews - chances are someone is paying for them.